Friday, March 30, 2012

Insta Friday

Insta Friday is here again...

Dogwoods
Bus Stop adventures
Skin looking great on the JUICE
Violets are everywhere
Clovers
Converse
Creamy tomato love
Morning rays
I truly don't know where the heck this week went
I have been really working at the Visual eating thing
and in the course have sort of become
Tumblr addicted...
I started two blogs there...
Check them out if you like
I started this one as inspiration for Visual Eating..
then I started this one just for self expression
go-there.tumblr.com 
Let me know what you think...
Hope you have a lovely weekend 
and for most of us
a great start to Spring Break!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Sorry no thrift...but I have lost something....

SO
Visual Eating works for me!
I have lost 7 lbs!
My new routine is instead of turning on the news every morning
I go cut up my breakfast
and either juice it or bake it.
The collage on the refrigerator helps
keep me focused.
Then I spend my online time in the morning.
I get done what I usually do and then
I spend some time with my Tumblr account.
There are a few that help to inspire me and I started my own.
Here is the collage in the kitchen
 
(I plan on adding more)
and here is my other new best friend
My Juicer...
It has not been easy..
but for some reason easier than it has been before
Someone said 
"I stopped thinking of all the things I couldn't have
and started thinking of all the things I could have"
I also think seeing the reminders
of what I want to achieve
and repeating some of the positive thoughts that are sprinkled throughout
the Tumblr pages helps me tremendously...
Next I have to tackle getting out there and MOVING it!
If you'd like to have a peek at my Tumblr
blog here it is
Basically
Happy thoughts
places I love 
things that make me smile
beautiful clothes
and of course
lovely healthy food

Happy Monday Everyone!
I'll be back at thrifting in a few days!

 

Friday, March 23, 2012

Insta Friday and other thoughts............

Another week almost over...
Where the heck did it go?
So far the Visual Eating has worked!
Not done with my collage yet
I will share it as soon as I'm done!
Here is a bit of the past week in Instagram...
We were outdoors a lot
and I'm paying with my allergies now!
 Spring has Sprung...
The weeds are already here ...
Spicy Sushi Love...
Little Keeper's buddy told him his shoes were "Cool"
now he won't wear any other shoes!
Old Blue...
Foggy start...
Cheese...
Run..
My favorites are here...
Dew Drops like jewels...
Protector of the bulbs
(dang squirrels!)
Ham...

Hope you have a great Friday wherever you are!
 

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

HMMM...Ideas...

I've been wrestling with a lot of issues lately...
One of them has been food.
I love my nosh.
Of course there is good and too much good.
(I prefer not to say bad because no food should be considered bad)
You know the old saying
"Too much of a good thing?"
I have seen a few documentaries in the past 2 years that have also 
inspired me
but I tend to fall back into old ways when I'm stressed.
Since my work has changed though
I have noticed I don't eat as much as I used to
and especially when I'm being creative
I could care less and often have to stop to make myself eat.
Maybe that whole being creative and HAPPY
thing really go hand in hand?!
The other day while looking at Pinterest
and Tumblr
I had an idea.
I am such a visually driven person
and who isn't?
Advertisers know if they bombard you with
Cheeseburger and Lucky Charms ads
that quite a number of people will respond and have to have what they saw.
So
my idea was
to put lovely photos of some of the most healthy
good for you foods and the lovely
things I want to wear
onto the front of the fridge.
Examples:

 via
Ruche
You get the point right?
I think I'm going to call it 
the Inspired Eats collage?
This week I'm going to clean off the fridge and see if I can
get the printer to work
and I'll show you what I come up with!
Are you having any challenges right now?
I encourage you to come up with an "out-of-the-box" approach.
Maybe it will be one of the best ideas you never tried!
Happy Tuesday all!

Monday, March 19, 2012

It's waaay past your bedtime....

Who would have thought
my little keeper would enjoy sitting and looking
with me through some
of my favorites on Tumbler?

There's always hope for that spark of creativity
maybe a photographer?
Or maybe he just likes the pretty girls...
Whatever it is,
I'm digging it.
This is some great quality time.
OOPS.
It's past your bedtime!
Here are two of my young favorites...
Ohhh to be young like this again...
these girls inspire me with their images.
Happy Monday  evening!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Happy St.Patrick's Day

Do you have that favorite piece of jewelry
that you almost always wear?
In honor of  St.Patricks day
I wanted to share this lovely 
necklace I purchased a few years ago.
 This reproduction pendant was made in Ireland
this side has a lovely piece of Connemara marble


This side has an image of Mary on it.
I loved that it had an antique feel to it.
The story was that the designers mother wore one like it
and he decided to reproduce it.
After the little guy heads off to bed...
time tonight for the annual viewing of.....
 I wrote about it last year
here
  Do you have any St.Patrick's Day
traditions?
Hope you have a great one!

Friday, March 16, 2012

Insta Friday............

Snippets of last two weeks....

Fort Quilt
Perfectly purple nails
Reading
A few of my mixed media pieces
Art and Soul VA
On the road
Cake
Springtime Sunlight
Mexican dresses
Coffee stops
Eat your fruits and veg
Buddhist monks at my favorite Pho restaurant

Hope you had a wonderful week
and are looking forward to a great weekend!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

New Times.....

Sitting here with my coffee ...
reflecting on the last few years and where they have led our family.
They have been difficult
but have changed our outlook on life in a number of ways.
We have definitely had judgement passed on our situation and personal choices.
A very wise teacher once said to me when I was a teenager
 that before you judge or make assumptions about people
you should always remember that you don't know
what their real life is like.
You don't know what their experiences have been.
That has stayed with me maybe more than anything else I learned in school.
I would love for people to step back and take a moment
to think about the things they assume about people.
Example-
"She is such a pain when she comes over-I don't want to deal with her, ugh!"
I used to hear people say things like this
all the time.
One day I decided I was going to not let this person ruin my morning.
After I let the wall down-
(that she was going to be annoying no matter what)
I spent time really trying to get the person to open up
and I LISTENED...
This person was such a PAIN
because she was really scared deep down.
Once I tapped into that realization it changed all together how I dealt with his person.
Example-
"I just can't understand why he is so unfriendly, I have tried to talk to him
but we get nowhere. he is just a jerk."
Sometimes people have such inner struggles they only let in a very few
people into their lives.
Issues with trust usually have a reason behind them.
I think what I am trying to say is
You don't have to push people to be what you think they should be.

I had to accept a long time ago that not everyone thinks like me.
If all our friends and family were the same how boring would that be?
I have the one friend who is ALWAYS late.
A great person who would do anything for you but will be about 15 min late to help you.
One friend who is honestly eternally a 17 year old boy...
Another great person who is just enjoying his earlier years waay too much to step into
adulthood yet.
(BUT - he lost his dad when he was a teenager . Backstory?)
 One friend who can't say no.
Mother to all, will do anything for you, and gives her heart 100% to everything she does.
Growing up
she had nothing and had no help.
She is not starved for attention or Mrs. Perfect
she sometimes to her own peril can't stop giving because she wished someone
had been that way for her growing up.
One friend who really doesn't talk much and may take YEARS for him to
really warm up to anyone.
Do you know what his childhood was really like?
Not everyone grew up with Mr. and Mrs. Brady.
Maybe he never really learned the social skills that some of us did
and maybe he guards his heart so strongly that rarely anyone gets close to it
so he won't get hurt.


I know we as individuals have been misunderstood
so we should give others the same consideration.
 Just take a moment to think about how YOU treat people
and the judgements you pass.
You may gain a whole new insight into your world
and it could become such a better place to live.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Goodies in the Bag!

The last week has been so busy!
I managed to squeeze in some time for vintage goodness
thanks to
I am splitting up the finds I had into two posts
because there were so many!
 
I found this lovely tablecloth in some
colors I don't have yet for $6.00
 These lovely tiny spools of tatting threads
were .25 cents each


This lovely little English lady
was only $3.00
I couldn't resist the colors and the flowers in the skirt
so many little precious elements to her!
 These two Vintage Hallmark
Party Games books
are full of pages of games, etc.
I loved the colors to the one on the right...
 Lastly I always love a little Christmas!
These gummed stickers were $2.00
I'm not sure how many pages there are
but it is a nice thick little stack!
I also couldn't resist the Santa
I got 3 for $2.00!
Head on over to 
Apron Thrift Girl 
and check out what everyone else found!
 

Friday, March 9, 2012

Thankfulness...

This has been a BUSY week
Art and Soul 2012
My little one is sick
and
most importantly my husband 
after 2 and a half long years has finally landed a job!
So I thought it was appropriate to share this.....
 One in a series of about
8 that I made this week.
I had so much fun learning this process
which I will share with you in a later post.
I just wanted to say from the bottom of my heart 
Thank You to all
who have been so supportive
and have prayed for us from all across the country
We feel truly blessed.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Thrifty and crafty....

This week for 
Thriftshare I decided to just show
one item.
Mainly because I have been looking for almost a year
for the perfect piece
to place in this Niche' that I made last May....
 This Virgin Mary from a vintage nativity
jumped out at me from a bottom shelf at the local CHKD....
she was only .79 cents!
I made the Niche' at one of Sally Jean Alexanders classes.
Every bit of that was put together by Moi!
The top is broken pieces of a crystal bowl...
The beautiful thing about it is that you can 
place one of those battery operated tea lights in the bottom
to shine through and illuminate the object inside.
There should be a back on this but I wanted
you to be able to see through the glass.
That little .79 cent piece is what I finally needed!
How amazing is the power of Thrift?!
Happy Monday all!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Art and Soul kind of week....




is back in Virginia for the week.
This year they moved to Va.Beach from the original location.
I must admit that although it isn't right in my backyard anymore
that being at the beach is nice for all the people who travel here for the event.
Last night the local group who have been getting together during the year
and have adopted the name
TAG
had a potluck before Vendor night.
I have not been able to get up with the group
since last May.
So last night was the perfect time for me to meet 
everyone.
I already knew a few people and met a lot of wonderful new ones.
Small world but one sweet gal I met I recognized right away...
although we had never met.
I knew her face because she follows my Pinterest boards!
How crazy is that!
It was so cool to meet her!
After we all ate ,made some trades, and gabbed A LOT!
We headed downstairs to Vendor night...
This is like Christmas for Artists...
Lots of beautiful artwork for sale, jewelry ,
and more fabric, Ephemera,trim, supplies, bits and pieces of vintage
than one person could hope for.



Just a peek...
I will post later in the week all the goodies I scored!
It was a blast..
I stayed for 2 hours before I headed home.
I will be taking a class in transformational painting
and then one from the master herself
Sally Jean Alexander 
 
 
 Making this interesting item
 A "Merry go Round" made from an old hand mixer and all kinds 
of soldered goodness!
I can't wait.
I absolutely love Sally Jean
she is such a wonderful teacher and so much FUN
this will be my 3rd class with her 
I have adopted the saying 
that if
"you didn't get burned, you didn't have fun"
might sound awful but so funny.
I 'll be sharing some Instagrams and the projects I finish during the week.
Hope you are having a great weekend!

Friday, March 2, 2012

Happy Birthday Dr.Seuss....

I thought I would share a little
of our 
themed party we had for Little Keeper
(Back in January)
in honor of Dr.Seuss Birthday this week.
I really enjoy coming up
with a theme for his parties and trying to go the extra mile.
I have these creative skills so
I feel like I should use them and not just buy everything.
The Little guy has really been into Dr.Seuss this year so it was an easy 
choice this time!
Here is one trick that I use
that can make a room seem extra special
 I like to take colored streamers
and drape them from the ceiling in the center of our dining room
I also used glittered stars and cutouts of the Cats Hat
How do I get them up there?
A Swiffer and packing tape!
We used the red/blue and black themed colors like Thing 1 and Thing 2 wear
During the year I purchased a few of the different
character stuffed animals Kohl's sold a few years ago on E-Bay
I tried to get the best deals possible
I even found two at our local Thrift Store for .99cents!
We already had a huge collection of the Dr.Seuss books
so I spread those around as well for decoration.
 I made the bunting from a 4th of July set and added the Hats to it...
We left our pet fish on the mantel for the "Fish in the Pot"
 We had several decks of Dr.Seuss flash cards
so I decided to use them as well...
I spelled his name with this set
and used the number set with his cake for his "4" th
The little box was from the dollar spot at Target!
We lucked out that they just happened to do this in the Spot during the summer!
I also thought for a fun filler I would use a bunch of the craft
pom-poms I had
sort of like Truffula Trees and the Clover from Horton
 I made up our own
"Who-Party-Menu"
Mount Crumpet Trumpets
(Bugles corn chips)
Green Eggs and Ham
(Picture to follow- white chocolate, green m&m's with pretzel sticks)
Red fish,Blue fish,Goldfish crackers
 Prairie of Prax Gummy snax
(simple gummy snacks in bags)
Thing One and Thing Two marshmallows Blue
(I made marshmallow pops dipped in blue chocolate with red sprinkles)
 Hop on Popcorn bags
Who Sweets
(assorted candy in the colors of the party - red licorice,etc)
Barbaloot Fruit Juice
(blue Hugs drinks)
and 
Pink Yink Ink Drink
( Pink Hugs Drinks)
Cat in the hat cakes
(cupcakes!)
(wow the table looks really full now, I don't remember it looking THAT full!)
 We made our cupcakes 
and I used stickers attached to drink stirrers for the decorations
I swirled different food colorings into the batter for rainbow effect!

There are several Dr.Seuss games out there right now
but you can find them on E-bay at a better price.
I lucked out and on 3 different occasions found them in thrift stores.
2 of them had never been opened!
The kids really loved this one
where you wore this Horton mask
and tried to pick up Clovers with the trunk!
 The kids didn't even care about the "game" part of it..
they just got a thrill out of picking them up!
 There are even some cool
Dr.Seuss photo Apps for Ipod/Iphone
that we used
for pictures of the guests!
We also played any of the DVD's we had of Dr.Seuss movies
like the Lorax, Green  Eggs and Ham,  The cat in the Hat, The Grinch, etc.
All in all it was a great day!
I really tried to make use of things we had
and inexpensive things I found over the period of a few months.
A great resource for ideas is of course the internet.
There is also a site called
that has lots of great ideas,games,and downloads especially for parties.
Hope you have a little Seusslike fun
and read a great story by the master...
I often think his books were really meant for
adults...
I have given this as a graduation gift before...
I read it to my son a few weeks ago
and it struck me
how motivational it could be
for even a family as ourselves going through some
major economy driven issues.
I think you just feel better no matter what Dr.Seuss book you pick up,
and 
if you don't
well even the Grinch had a change of heart...
Happy Birthday Mr.Geisel
I hope you all enjoyed our little show.

What a week!

Have you ever uttered the phrase..
"It has been one of THOSE days?"
After recent events it feels like it has been
"One of those weeks"
Extreme highs and extreme lows..
I don't even want to get into it yet 
for fear of jinxing what is going on...
so instead I'll leave you with images of some of the
more calming
and fun parts of the week....
 I'm thinking of making a weekly Instagram
re-cap every week...
I love that you can capture small moments 
without having to lug out the ol' Big Girl Camera!

Thanks to everyone for their love, support and prayers this week!
Happy Weekend to all!